How to Close the Gate
by Reika Itsumi
Summary: There will be a new title..if I can think of one. It's just about different ways the Elric brothers try to close the gate after opening it. This all takes place during the ending of the movie. May have spoilers...Some spoilers...T for language.
1. Prelude

**This is my first FMA fic...so I hope you all like it. And yes...this first Prelude part is the ending of the movie. I just thought maybe I should do this for anyone who didn't see the movie so that they would understand my story...a little bit. But trust me, the next chapter will have chaos!! Yes! **

**I DO NOT OWN FMA! ...(sigh) Oh well...**

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Prelude

After going to Shamballa to stop Dietlinde Eckart's terrorism on Liore, Edward returned back to the other side of the gate. He had left his brother, Alphonse, once again so that he could close the gate that had foolishly been opened by Eckart.

He slowly climbed out of the ship to meet a surprising scene. His friend, Alfons Heiderich was laying in Noah's lap. Maes Hughes and other men were in the background watching Ed closely.

"Edward!" Noah called as she noticed Ed walking from the wreck.

"Noah…" Ed replied weakly. "That's right. After all that trouble, I'm still here. Surprise?" He continued. Noah laid Alfons down and stood up to greet Ed. What Ed didn't expect to see was blood…the blood of his roommate on Noah's dress. The former Alchemist looked down in terror at the sight of Alfons' limp body.

"Why? Why would you come back to our world?" Noah asked as she began to approach Edward.

"It's hard to explain…" Ed hesitated. He looked down to a suit of armor that layed beside the wreckage. There was a small pause before a voice came from the armor.

"He came to destroy the gate." Ed turned his attention from Noah to the armor. He knew the voice belonged to his brother, Al. Noah stood by in confusion.

"So you transferred your soul again, huh Al?" Ed asked. He walked over to the armor and kneeled by it. "How long 'till you fade this time?" He continued. Normally this was what his brother would do so that he could see his brother. The alchemy he used never lasted too long, but long enough to exchange a few words.

This time though, it wasn't alchemy. The helmet fell off of the armor, revealing Ed's little brother. Al popped his head out from the armor and smiled. Ed stared at him, astonished.

"Al! What are you doing here?!" Edward exclaimed, watching as his brother loosened some to the different mechanisms on the armor.

"I jumped onto your ship at the last minute, brother. Then I hid inside this armor so you wouldn't find me. General Mustang should be breaking down the gate on the other side right now." Al explained. He continued to loosen the armor so that he could climb out. "And we're going to destroy it on this side right?"

Ed hesistated before answering. "But you won't be able to go home Al." Alphonse had finally gotten himself out of the armor. He stood up and then looked at his brother.

"I want to be at your side brother. No matter what. I want to see the same things you do, learn what you learn, and keep on journeying together. Like those years we were journeying for the stone. Despite all the hardships, those were the best times we had." Ed was still in kneeling position, looking up at his brother with a surprised expression.

"Al…are you telling me your memories are back?" Al nodded. Eversince the two Elric brother's had been separated, Al had lost his memories. The only things he remembered were when they had lost their mother.

"Mhm…When we left our own world, I think."

"Hmph…Equivalent Exchange huh?" Ed shrugged. He then stood up with Al. They both looked up at the ceiling where the gate had been opened. "Destroying that gate is going to be a challenge without alchemy."

"Between the two of us…we'll figure it out." Ed and Al looked at each other for a moment and then back up to the gate.

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**Yeah...there isn't any originality so this is ALL owned by the makers of FMA. I'm just letting people know what the heck is going on...sort of. Gah, you'll know when my originiality comes up in the next chapter. I'm sure of it!! **


	2. Ideas? Anyone?

**Okay, here's the actually orginiality I put into this thing! Hope you like my first FMA fic!! Enjoy!**

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Chapter 1- Ideas?? Anyone?

The Elric brother's continued to stare at the gate opening before them. It took about ten minutes before Al spoke up.

"Uh…brother? Do you have any ideas of how to do this?" He asked. Unfortunately, he didn't get a response. He sighed and looked to his brother. "Eeeeddd…this might be a problem."

"I know Al…I know." Suddenly, something came to Ed's mind. He looked at the ground, studying a rock. "Al…I think I have an idea…" Al watched as his brother picked up a small stone. "Why don't we try throwing rocks at it?" Al blinked.

"Umm…I don't think it would…" He stopped in mid-sentence. Ed wasn't listening anyway. Instead, Ed left to get as close as he could to the gate, the rock still in his hand. He was on the third level of stairs when he took up 'rock-throwing position'.

"Here I go!" Ed proclaimed as he threw the rock. Instead of closing the gate, the rock floated through it. Ed dead panned. "Eh…maybe a bigger rock would do…"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the gate…

Roy Mustang was preparing to close the gate. Riza Hawkeye, Jean Havoc and Kain Fuery were all with him. He was just about to close the gate when he was suddenly hit in the back of the head with…a small rock.

"Who threw that?" Roy asked. He looked back at the officers with him while rubbing his head. Riza turned to Kain, who then turned to Havoc. Jean, not knowing that there wasn't another person next to him, turned to air. He sweat dropped and then quickly turned back to Roy.

"I swear it wasn't me! I was just standing here!" Jean pleaded. Roy only sighed and went back to closing the gate.

Back with Ed and Al…

"All right…let's try…this one!" Ed picked up a slightly bigger stone than the one he had just thrown.

"Ed…I still don't think …" Just like before, Ed had left before Al could finish his sentence. Ed once again went up to the third floor balcony and went into rock-throwing position. He threw the rock…and again it only got swallowed up by the gate.

"…A boulder! That's it!" Ed climbed back down to Al's level. "Al! Help me make a slingshot! Hughes! You don't mind if I borrow some of your men do you?" Ed turned to Maes. The general blinked a couple of times.

"What are you thinking?" He finally replied.

"Thanks. Don't worry; they'll be back before you know it!" Ed gathered the Nazi soldiers behind the Lieutenant and hurried off. Hughes hesitated before turning around and watching Ed run off with part of his army.

"Wait! Edward! I didn't agree to that!" He began to run after the boy, leaving Al and Noah standing there in confusion. Noah turned to Al.

"I've never seen your brother like this before…" She said while pointing towards the direction Ed had gone. Al shrugged and sighed.

About ten minutes later, Ed and the Nazi men had come in pushing a huge boulder. Hughes had also gotten himself involved because he had gotten caught by Ed and he automatically volunteered Maes to help out.

Ed told them that it was far enough in the building and walked out from behind the gigantic rock. He looked around and then turned to Al.

"Where's the slingshot? I thought I told you to make one!"

"But I thought you told me to HELP you make one."

"Right…okay then. Let's get it ready then!" Al sighed and met up with his brother. Noah only stepped aside, wondering what was going to happen next.

Back with Roy and the others…

Roy had re-prepared himself to close the gate. He was about to close it, but was interrupted by yet another rock, this one a bit bigger. This time it drew blood. He once again turned to the four officers behind him.

"All right, quit playing games…." Roy hissed. "Who's responsible for throwing rocks at my head?" He waited for a reply but he never got one. Roy sighed and then started to tap his foot. "Don't make me force it out of you…whoever it is doing this to me." He lifted his hand in the air, ready to give off one of his famous finger sparks.

Riza and Kain both looked to Jean. He only looked back at his comrades with wide eyes.

"What are you guys staring at me for?! I swear, I didn't do anything!! It came from the other side of the gate!"

"That would be impossible. I doubt a rock could go through the gate if humans can't. It wouldn't even look like a rock if it had anyway." Riza commented. Just then, Winry and Sheska showed up.

"Colonel…you still haven't closed the gate yet?" Winry huffed. She and Sheska had ran all the way so they could carry out a certain plain they had thought up.

"No…not yet. I would've had it done if Jean didn't throw rocks at my head…" Roy gave Havoc a glare.

"Why do you all think it was me!? I swear! I didn't do anything!" Jean couldn't take it anymore. So, he ran off into the distance where he wouldn't be accused of throwing rocks at his superior.

"All right Sheska! Let's initiate our plan!" Winry turned to her friend. Sheska nodded and ran off. Winry followed, leaving the group of military people standing in confusion.

Back with Ed and Al…

Ed and Al had the giant sling shot ready, the boulder in place and everything set up to launch the huge rock into the gate. Ed smiled happily at their creation while Al could only sigh.

"All right…we'll let this thing go on the count of 3…" Ed explained. "1…"

"Brother…I…"

"2…"

"Wait! Brother I…"

"3! Launch it!" Ed watched as the boulder hit the gate…and was slowly devoured. Ed's jaw dropped as well as Al's. The gate had engulfed about half of the gigantic stone when it stopped. Everyone in the room watched it with curiosity, wondering if it had worked or not. Soon enough, the boulder started moving again at a quicker rate and was soon gone.

"Okay...so on the third attempt my plan didn't work…" Ed stated. "Got any ideas Al?" He asked, turning to his younger brother.

Back with Roy and company…

Riza looked down as she felt something hit the back of her heal. A small black and white dog was sitting there, shaking off the pain it had gotten when it bumped into Riza's heal.

"Black Hayate…what are you doing here?" She questioned, picking up the dog. The dog hadn't grown much bigger, but was definitely older. As if it was responding, the dog whimpered and looked past Riza's shoulder. The military woman turned around and saw something she didn't expect. Winry and Sheska were riding in their own armored plane, ready to enter the gate.

"Umm…Colonel sir…I think you should look at this…" Riza said, referring to Roy, who had once again prepared himself to close the gate for the third time. He sighed and looked behind him. The sight made his jaw drop.

"What do they think they're doing?!" Roy exclaimed, standing up from his kneeling position. Fuery was also stunned.

"Hey!" Winry yelled from the plane. "You guys better move…or …else…" The woman blinked a few times as she looked at the area where the gate was. A boulder was now about to erupt from the giant hole.

"Gah! Winry, I'm getting us out of here!" Sheska yelled, jerking the plane in the opposite direction.

"I'm so confused…" Kain whimpered. He turned back to Roy only to see a giant rock starting to appear from the gate. "Umm…s-s-sir??" He stuttered, wide eyed. "I think Havoc was right about…the rocks coming from the other side of the gate…"

Roy shook his head in disbelief. "Not you too." Riza also turned back to see the same thing.

"He's not lying…" Riza stated. She turned and began walking away, soon breaking into a run. Not to mention squeezing the life out of Black Hayate. After seeing Riza run off, Fuery shivered for a minute and then ran off to follow her.

Roy was definitely confused, but soon enough decided to turn around. He saw the boulder and stared at it for a minute. After a few seconds he backed up and his eyes widened. He turned and followed the other two, hoping that his bad luck with rocks at the time wouldn't effect him right now.

Roy suddenly tripped over a rock. He rubbed his head and soon turned around to face the boulder. He put his hand up ready to fight the boulder with fire. He snapped his fingers and sent a jolt of fire at the rock. It somehow managed to split the boulder in two, the halves landing on either side of the Colonel. Roy froze in his position for a second. While he sat there, some of the pieces that had come off the boulder hit him on top of his head. After a few more little pieces hit him in the head, he sighed.

"I really don't have any luck with rocks today…do I?"

Just then, Winry and Sheska, still driving the plane, flew by and dove into the unoccupied gate. Riza and Fuery also came back and stood by Roy and the rock halves. They all stood there with surprised looks upon their face.

"What…do they think they're doing?!" Fuery spoke up. "They'll…they'll…" He stuttered, but then gave up on finishing his sentence.

"It's too late…either they'll make it to the other side mutated or they'll make it completely." Riza inspected.

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**Okay, I have just gotten into this series. I haven't seen much of the series, but I have seen the movie and know the whole concept on things...I just hope that this story is okay. Yes...Ed is a little OOC, but...he'll change back...eventually.**


	3. Cows on a Rampage

**YAY! Chapter two up and running! I tried to put in extra humor in this chapter...I hope you all like it. If you did, then you would review...right? Perdy Please?!!**

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Chapter 2- Cows on a Rampage

"Al…do you have anything in mind yet?" Ed asked, looking to his brother for about the fortieth time. Al rubbed his chin deep in thought. It had been about an hour and the Elric brothers still didn't think of anything.

Just as Ed thought they'd never find a way to close the gate, Al's mind clicked. He snapped his fingers and turned to his brother with the good news.

"Brother! I've got an idea!" Al proclaimed excitedly. Ed gave his own smile and waited for his younger brother to continue. "We could…" Al paused and blinked a couple of times. "Umm…we could…"

"Al…we could what?"

Al sighed and he gazed at the floor. "I forgot." Ed sweat dropped at the response. He scratched the top of his head and glanced at Noah.

"Hey! Noah, you think you could do something for me?" Ed asked, turning to the gypsy. Noah waited for what he wanted her to do. Ed walked up to her and gave her his hand. "You're a fortune teller right? Tell us how we're going to close this thing." He commanded, waiting for her to answer.

"Edward…I tell fortunes…not futures."

"Aren't they the same thing?" asked an impatient Ed. Noah sighed and decided that she would try anyway. She closed her eyes, still gripping Ed's hand. About five minutes later she opened her eyes.

"Well?" Ed asked anticipating the word. Noah sighed and shook her head. "What? What!? Tell me!" Ed exclaimed.

"I don't think my readings are accurate…" The gypsy responded.

"But I thought your gypsy friends told me that you were never wrong!"

"Well, if you can find some cows that walk on their hind legs, then I guess I wouldn't be wrong. I'm pretty sure something must be affecting my readings." The woman turned, her back facing Ed.

"What?" the eldest Elric blinked a couple of times, still drinking in the information that came from the gypsy. "Cows? That walk on their hind legs?! That's impossible!" Ed grabbed his head in frustration.

"Brother…that's so unscientific to believe in those things." Al chimed in, walking up to his older brother's side. Ed sighed and turned to Al. He stared at his brother for a minute until something came to mind.

"Do you think regular cows would work?"

"Umm…maybe…?" Al watched as his brother ran passed him, Noah and the army. After Ed disappeared, Al followed him. Noah did the same, not wanting to be left behind with Hughes and the army, knowing what might happen to her.

Maes watched as Noah passed. Just when he thought things couldn't go any stranger, a small plane came from the gate. Two females were piloting it before it crashed and made the wreckage pile bigger. The two pilots crawled out from the pile, both only with scratches.

"Owie…"

"Sheska…you need to work on your landings!" The blonde haired woman scolded. The girl names Sheska shook her head and stood up, examining her surroundings.

"Sorry…wow. Winry, look at this place! It's so different! Yet…it still reminds me of our own world! It's scary!" Sheska soon found her gaze to be placed upon a general standing in front of her. She blinked a few times and then gaped at who it was.

Winry stood up next to Sheska and also looked around. She looked towards Sheska and saw her expression.

"What's wrong with you Sheska?" Winry asked. Her only response was Sheska pointing to the man clad in uniform in front of them. Winry looked in the direction of the bookworm's finger and was also stunned.

"Hughes!!??" The two exclaimed in unison.

"H-how did you know?!" Hughes responded, stepping back in a defensive stance wondering how the two women knew his name. He was suddenly approached by the woman with glasses.

"But sir! Your supposed to be dead!" She exclaimed.

"What!? How dare you say something like that!" Hughes yelled.

Noticing what was happening, Winry immediately came up behind her friend and put her hand over Sheska's gapping mouth.

"Sorry sir! She's just a little…umm…sick! That's all." Winry proclaimed nervously. Sheska was squirming, trying to spew her 'knowledge'. "Umm…can you tell me where the nearest doctor would be?" Winry asked politely, hoping to make up for her friends behavior.

"Just down the road…only a few miles from here." Maes explained, calming down from the recent insult. Winry sighed and then thanked him. She dragged her friend behind her through the group of soldiers. She gulped nervously as she passed.

When the two women had reached the outdoors, Winry let Sheska go.

"Winry! What did you do that for!?" An enraged Sheska demanded. Winry shook her head, signaling her to calm down.

"We're on the other side of the gate…there will probably be a few familiar faces, but the first thing to say to someone is not that they're supposed to be dead!" Winry scolded. Sheska straightened up and scratched her head.

"Yeah…I guess your right."

Winry sighed and then looked down the streets. "Right now our main priority is finding Ed and Al." Sheska nodded in agreement.

"Where should we start?" The bookworm asked. Winry turned to her and shrugged. "So…can I pick which way we get to go?!" An excited Sheska asked, jumping up and down like a small child. Her blonde haired companion sighed and nodded, only making Sheska squeak in even more excitement.

With Ed and Al…

"Umm…brother? Are you sure we should be doing this?" Al asked as he looked upon a small grazing field with about twenty cows.

"We have to close that gate no matter what. No matter how odd things get. Now help me round these guys up and lead them to the gate." Ed explained as he hopped over the wooden pole fence surrounding the perimeter of the field. Al sighed and also jumped the fence, only to get his coat stuck on the pole.

"Gah! …Brother! Wait for me!" Al turned around and quickly unhooked his coat and ran to catch up to his brother. Al was examining his torn coat as he ran forward. He suddenly came to a stop as he ran into his brother and fell back.

"Shh…Al. Cows scare easily…" said Ed, who was concentrating on how to guide the cows to where he wanted them to go. Al shook his head and stood up quietly. For the strangest reason, Ed felt like he was in an important battle…just him and his brother against the cows. Those evil milk producing cows…

"Ed?" Al interrupted his brother's mental cow cursing with a question. "How are we going to get them out of here?" Ed examined the fence, looking for a gate.

"There." Ed whispered, pointing to a small metal gate chained closed. "Al…go unlock it and I'll move them towards you okay?"

"What!?" Al softly exclaimed. "I don't have anything to unlock the lock with brother. I can't…" Ed cut him off when he gave him a bobby pin.

"You know how to pick locks don't you?" Ed asked, turning to Al and smiling. Al sighed and ran over to the gate as quietly as he could, leaving his brother to ponder how he was going to get the cows to move.

Ed approached one of the many cows, watching as it stood there grazing peacefully. He hesitated before going in front of the cow. The cow looked up at him, still chewing a chunk of grass.

"Come on now…" Ed slowly put his hand towards the cow's nose. "Follow me…" He slightly pulled the cows head toward his direction. The huge beast didn't budge. "Come on…" Ed tried again, pulling a little harder. Still, there was no movement. "Come on dammit!" Ed exclaimed loudly, scarring the cow. "Uh-oh…" He listened as a melody of mooing overcame the silence of the area.

Soon Ed found himself running from the herd, running toward the gate where Al was still playing with the lock.

"AL! HURRY!" He exclaimed as he came ever closer. Al turned and his eyes widened when he saw his brother being chased by cows. He turned back to the lock and frantically fiddled with it.

On top of all their troubles, the owner of the farm had seen everything and had come out with a shot gun, ready to defend his herd of cows. He took aim and shot at Al, ever since he was trying to undo the lock to let the cows out. Both of the Elric brothers heard the shot. Fortunately for Al, the bullet missed completely.

"Brother! What do we do!? What do we do!?" Al quickly turned to his tiring brother.

"Just keep trying to undo that dammed lock!" Ed yelled, still running for his life from the stampede. Al nodded and turned back to the lock. His hands were sweating profusely, making the grip on the bobby pin worse. He went to pick the lock and dropped the hair pin. His mouth opened and his eyes widened. Al searched the patch of grass it had landed in, finally finding it a minute later. He tried again, this time the lock clicked.

"It's unlocked!" Al yelled to his brother. He quickly unchained the gate and opened it, letting Ed run through it with the bunch of cows following.

"My cows!" The western accented owner cried. "You stupid kids!" He once again took aim at Al and shot. This time, it hit it's target, hitting Al's shoulder. He continued shooting when he found that he didn't kill the boy. Al was running after his brother, but tripped as he was shot in the leg as well.

Ed kept hearing the gun shots continue. He turned to look back to see if Al was all right, but couldn't see past the stampede of white and black beasts.

"Brother!" Al cried, as he struggled to stand up. His breathing became uneven as he tried to limp after his brother. The owner shot at him again, fortunately missing.

Ed turned around and stopped, only to get trampled by the now free cows. After the cows had passed, he stood up and shook his head. He looked at his brother and his eyes widened. Al had fallen and was now lying in the middle of the dirt street.

"AL!" Ed ran to his brother's side. "Al! Can you hear me?" He kneeled down to his injured brother, hoping to get a response.

"Brother…?" came the weak reply.

"Al…everything's going to be all right. Just hold on." Ed put his brother's arm around his neck and ran off, carrying his brother. To Ed's dismay, the farmer wasn't going to give up on shooting at the duo before they were both dead. "Dammit…this guy doesn't know when to give up." He finally rounded a corner and ran off the way that they had come. Oddly enough, the cows headed that way as well.

Back with Winry and Sheska…

"Winry!" Sheska cried. "Where are we?! I'm so confused!" Winry only sighed. She looked up from the ground and looked at the road they were on. She stopped walking, making Sheska turn and stop.

"Sheska…do you hear…mooing?" a baffled Winry asked. Sheska listened for a moment before nodding in agreement. The two girls stood for a minute, wondering why it sounded like a herd of mad cows. The sound came closer as the ground began to shake and suddenly, a herd of stampeding cows rounded the corner.

"I think this would be a good time to run…" Sheska stated.

"You state the obvious!" Winry replied and quickly turned to run away from the cows. Sheska followed.

"Where are we supposed to run to?!" She asked the blonde, who was currently running in front of her.

"We'll just go back to where we came from!" Winry replied, skidding and turning a corner. Sheska tried to do that cool skidding thing, but failed miserably, almost tripping over herself. The two had finally found their target area and went into the building. Now, they were staring at a small army, the wreckage they'd been in and an officer who was supposedly dead back in Shamballa.

"Heh heh…hi again." Sheska greeted, waving to the soldiers and Hughes. Suddenly, the wall behind the two girls collapsed, letting in about twenty cows. When the herd had stampeded over Winry, Sheska and the rest of the group, they had calmed down and stood in the middle of the room.

"Oww…" Winry slowly stood up and rubbed her throbbing head. Sheska didn't move, but merely twitched. Hughes and his army stood up and dusted themselves off.

"I've never witnessed that before…" Maes commented as he turned to the cows now calmly standing in the middle of the room as well as examining the wreckage. Winry helped her companion up and nodded in agreement to Hughes' statement.

"I wonder…where they came from…" Sheska added.

Back with Ed and Al

"Hang in there Al. We're almost there." Edward was still carrying his younger brother over his shoulders.

"Who…would've thought…that wrangling cows…would be painful…?" Al said in between breaths. He hesitated and then gave a small smile.

"Heh…you've got that right." Replied a fatigued Ed. He sighed and continued on, but stopped as something whizzed passed his head. The alchemist stopped and froze in surprise.

"Don't you youngens move!" The farmer from before had followed the two teens, along with his handy dandy shoot gun. Ed turned his attention to the man behind him, giving off a serious expression, hoping to intimidate his 'stalker'. Unfortunately the guy didn't budge, so Ed figured that this would end up becoming more than it should need to be.

Edward turned and tenderly laid his brother against a nearby house side and then turned back to his new enemy.

"First you hurt my brother…now you're picking a fight with me? How ignorant are you?" Ed taunted. The frisky farmer didn't reply. He raised his shot gun and aimed it at his target.

"You're a cocky one you are. Most of ya youngens are." The man retorted, then followed his statement by shooting Ed's right arm. Ed fell to the ground tactically, knowing that the man was either fifty percent blind or if he was just plain dumb. "Heh…that took care of ya. Now for that other intruder…"

"Don't think I'm done for that easily old man." Ed stood up and dramatically ripped off his right arm sleeve. "A shot in my auto-mail arm isn't going to do a thing." He smiled mischievously at the farmer's shocked expression.

"What are you!?'

"What? Scarred? I'm human just like you are…just missing a couple limbs, that's all." Ed leapt forward and put the man's rifle arm into an arm lock and easily broke the farmer's arm. The gun slipped out of his grip, leaving an opening for Ed to elbow his enemy in the gut, knocking the guy unconscious.

Out of reaction, Ed clapped his hands together, wanting to transmute a cage to put the farmer in so that he didn't come running after the two brothers again. Nothing happened though and a few seconds later Ed remembered that alchemy didn't exist in this world. He sighed and then went over to Al and picked him up again. He noticed that his younger brother had fallen unconscious during the fight and smiled to himself. Thus, he moved forward in his journey back to the gathering at the gate site.

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Heh...how'd ya all like it? (I hate talking like that... I don't even know why I did that...O.o) If you review I will reply! I'm making that my new priority in life. Plus I would love to have some reviews cause I'm still grounded and hopefully it'll cheer me up. (smiles) Until the next chapter! Jr. The Red Dragon**


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